Harvard University law School.

WEEK 1

1. A consequentialist is likely to approach the trolley car case by focusing on:

The number of lives that would be saved by diverting the trolley car.
2. One who engages in categorical moral thinking is likely to approach the trolley car
case by focusing on: Whether diverting the trolley car would violate people’s rights.
3. Someone who argues that the trolley car driver should divert the trolley because
more lives would be saved by doing so would be engaging in: b) Consequentialist
moral reasoning.
WEEK 2
1. Someone who objected to killing the cabin boy by saying, “It is always wrong to take
an innocent life in order to save a greater number of lives” seems to be objecting on the
basis of: The fact that the cabin boy has rights.
2. Someone who objected to killing the cabin boy by saying, “It is morally wrong to kill
an innocent person unless he agrees to be killed ” seems to be objecting on the basis
of: The fact that the cabin boy did not consent and The fact that the cabin boy has
rights.
3. Someone who objected to killing the cabin boy by saying, “A lottery should have
been held to determine who would be eaten” seems to be objecting on the basis of:
The fact that proper procedure was not followed.
WEEK 3
1. Bentham’s utilitarianism says that in any situation, the right act for me to perform is:
The one that maximizes the total amount of happiness across all people.
2. In lecture, the example of the Ford Pinto was meant to raise questions about:
whether it is possible to assign a dollar value to human life.
3. In the lecture, the discussion about how much people would have to be paid in order
to eat an earth worm, to live in Kansas, to have a tooth pulled, and so on, was meant to
raise questions about: whether all goods can be accounted for using a single uniform
measure of value, as the utilitarian suggests.
WEEK 4

1. Which of the following best characterizes the difference between Bentham

and Mill with respect to their views on individual natural rights? Bentham thinks
that there are no natural rights, whereas Mill thinks that utilitarian moral theory
supports the idea that we should recognize individual rights.

2. Which of the following best characterizes the difference between Bentham

and Mill with respect to the issue of the “quality” of certain pleasures? Bentham
thinks we should only concern ourselves with the quantity of pleasure, and
remain nonjudgmental about the quality. Mill believes that some pleasures are
of a higher quality than others
3, Given two pleasurable experiences, how does Mill believe that we determine
which is the higher pleasure? By asking those who have experienced both
pleasures which they prefer.

WEEK 5

1. A libertarian like Nozick believes that: Society’s laws should leave people free
to choose how to live their lives, so long as they do not violate anyone else’s
rights.

2. Nozick thinks which of the following types of laws are unjust: Laws that
redistribute wealth, Laws that restrict people’s liberty for the sake of their own
good, Laws that restrict people’s freedom in the name of a particular moral code

3. For Nozick, the distribution of wealth in a particular society is just if: All
property was initially acquired justly, and then was transferred to others through
free exchange.

WEEK 6

1. A libertarian like Nozick objects to most types of coercion because: To coerce

people calls into question the fundamental notion that people own themselves.

2. Nozick objects to taxation for the purpose of redistributing wealth. How might
he respond to the objection that redistribution is permissible because the poor
need the money more than the wealthy? The wealthy have a right to spend their
money as they choose and Despite needing the money more, the poor are not
entitled to it.

3. Nozick objects to taxation for the purpose of redistributing wealth. How would
he respond to the objection that democratically implemented taxes are not really
coercive? He would say that they are coercive, because those who did not vote
for the taxes are still forced to pay them against their will.

WEEK 7

1. What does it mean for a right to be unalienable? Others cannot take it away
from me and even I cannot give it up or trade it away.

2. According to Locke, in the state of nature there is a law of nature that puts
constraints on what individuals can do even though they are free. What are
these constraints? e) In the state of nature, individuals are not free to take other
people’s life, liberty, and property nor are they free to give up their right to their
own life, liberty, and property.
3. According to Locke, can there be a right to private property even before there
is any government? Yes. If someone mixes his labor with something then he
can claim it as his property, at least where there is enough and as good left for
others.

WEEK 8.

1. According to Locke, in consenting to leave the state of nature and to create a

government, individuals …agree to give up their power to enforce the law of
nature.

2. According to Locke, are there limits to the power of the government created
by consent? The government is limited by an obligation on part of the majority
to respect and enforce the natural rights of citizens to life, liberty, and property.

3. According to Locke, is the government permitted to ask citizens to give up

part of their property or even their lives? According to Locke the only limit on the
government’s taking property and life is that it may not do so arbitrarily;
however, if there is a general law such that the government’s choice is non-
arbitrary it does not amount to a violation of people’s natural right to life, liberty,
property.

WEEK 9

1. Which of the following considerations speak against letting the market

allocate military service? All of the above.

2. In what sense could letting the market allocate military service be coercive?
Due to severe inequality in society those who buy their way into military service
do so not because they want to but because they have so few economic
opportunities that military service is their best choice.

3. Which of the following represents an objection to allocating civic obligations

and rights by the market? It weakens patriotism. It weakens solidarity among
citizens because only some experience the burdens of civic obligations (e.g.
fighting in a war) while others can buy their way out. It undermines political
equality among citizens, in the sense that it gives wealthy citizens an
opportunity that is not open to poorer citizens, namely the opportunity to buy
their way out of civic obligations.

WEEK10

1. Which of the following is an objection against enforcing a surrogacy contract

in a case where the birth mother changes her mind and wants to keep the baby
once it is born? The contract is based on tainted or flawed consent. Viewing
reproductive capacities as the object of an enforceable contract is
dehumanizing.

2. Which of the following factors could potentially make consent tainted or

flawed? The consenting party lacked relevant information. The consenting party
was coerced.

3. Which of the following capture Elizabeth Anderson’s objection to enforcing

surrogacy contracts? Requiring a biological mother to repress whatever
emotions she feels for her child is tantamount to converting women’s labor into
a form of alienated labor. Certain objects are not properly valued if they are
simply treated as objects of use; a woman’s reproductive capacity is such an
object. Certain goods are properly valued in ways other than use (e.g. respect,
appreciation, love, honor, awe, sanctity); a woman’s reproductive capacity is
such a good.

QUESTION 1.

1. According to Robert Nozick, the state is justified to tax a citizen (even against
his or her will) if: the taxes are used to support nothing more than a minimal
state.

2. Nozick’s Wilt Chamberlain example (updated by Professor Sandel to the

Michael Jordan example) is supposed to illustrate that …a) … liberty upsets
patterns and, therefore, patterned conceptions of justice require illegitimate
restrictions of liberty

3. Locke’s purpose in examining the “state of nature” is: to determine the natural
rights of human beings and, thereby, the legitimate extent of political power

4. According to Locke, is private property possible in the state of nature? Yes.

According to Locke, one can come to own something by mixing one’s labor with
it and provided there is enough, and as good, left for others.

5. Which of the following best characterizes the difference between Locke and
Nozick on the issue of unalienable rights? Nozick thinks that I own myself, and
that this means I may do whatever I want with myself — including, for instance,
selling myself into slavery. Locke disagrees. He thinks there are certain rights
that I may not alienate, no matter how badly I might want to.

WEEK 11.

1. According to Kant, what sets us (human beings) apart from other creatures is
… our capacity for reason
2. According to Kant, what it means to act freely is to …act according to a law I
give myself.

3. According to Kant, what gives an action its moral worth? According to Kant,
what gives an action its moral worth is the quality of the motive from which the
act is done.

WEEK 12.

1. Which of the following best captures Kant’s distinction between the motive of
duty and the motive of inclination? What Kant has in mind is the difference
between doing the right thing for the right reason and doing the right thing
because one feels like it.

2. Which of the following capture the difference between a hypothetical and a

categorical imperative? a) A hypothetical imperative commands with reference
to or dependence on another purpose, while a categorical imperative
commands without reference or dependence on any other purpose. A
hypothetical imperative has the form: If you want X, then do y; a categorical
imperative has the form: Do y. A hypothetical imperative is an expression of
means-end reasoning; a categorical imperative is not an expression of means-
end reasoning.

3. Which of the following best captures the Formula of Universal Law

formulation of the Categorical Imperative?
Act only on that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a
universal law.”